How to pick a joystick?

[G-Nome]

I am becoming interested in flying, but i still have a mouse and keyboard. I realize that buying a joystick will most likely improve my performance in the sky. I am looking for one that would work with jets and helis pretty well.

My questions are the following

• What features should I be looking for?
• Any brandnames that I should know?
• What joysticks would you recomend?

Thanks for the help.

[Sir. Blackhawk 5]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

What everyone uses (and reccomends) is a Logitech, 3d extreme Pro. Affourdalbe price range, and good features. I reccomend it. ALso works real well on games like flight simulator.

[G-Nome]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

Thanks. I forgot to mention that I was interested in flight sim.

[TheEn|gma]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

What features should I be looking for?

On the presumption that this joystick is just for BF2 a throttle slider attached to the base (not HOTAS). 3 buttons and a hat switch on the head of the joystick.

Any brandnames that I should know?

Logitech are pretty good I got my first proper stick from them and had it for almost two years before I had a problem. Saitek's are excellent sticks I really love my X-52 all Saitek products come with a two year guarantee which is useful.

I would avoid cordless/battery powered joysticks, they always die just when you need them :p

What joysticks would you recomend?

For you I would recommend Saitek Cyborg Evo or Logitech Extreme 3D Pro.

[Cromat]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

I use Saitek ST90 with only 3buttons,I use throttle on keyboard

[PSUfan61]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

I would definitely recommend at least 4 buttons, throttle on the joystick, and a Z axis (twistable joystick)....this makes flying a helicopter MUCH easier for me and allows me to make slight corrections while flying a jet too. As for the buttons, I like having a joystick with at least 4 because I have them assigned to machine gun, bomb, switch weapon, and flares. And the point of view hat is also crucial for checking your back quickly when flying.

[Mad Ad]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

make sure its got a twist handle!! (3d stick) the rest is just preference...personally I like it covered in as many buttons as possible (or hats, each hat can work as 4 seperate buttons if you want).

[gunitsoldier127]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

What everyone uses (and reccomends) is a Logitech, 3d extreme Pro. Affourdalbe price range, and good features. I reccomend it. ALso works real well on games like flight simulator.

dont get it, i have one, after 1 month, the springs inside gets worn out ( believe me) every single one logitech makes will have worn out springs after 1 month. then ur joystick will be fcked up, while flying ull have to keep ur stick alil to the right or left if u wanto fly straight, dont bother getting this one. get a seitec or wat ever its called,just dont get it from logytech, trust me, DONT GET ONE!!!.

[Dandred]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

dont get it, i have one, after 1 month, the springs inside gets worn out ( believe me) every single one logitech makes will have worn out springs after 1 month. then ur joystick will be fcked up, while flying ull have to keep ur stick alil to the right or left if u wanto fly straight, dont bother getting this one. get a seitec or wat ever its called,just dont get it from logytech, trust me, DONT GET ONE!!!.

My 3D pro is still going well with no problems after 6 months......I must be lucky

[CHARGER_76]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

Logitech wingman force 3d - 18 months old and still going strong, with a lot of il2/fb/pf flight sim abuse as well. It has rudder, throttle, 1 hat switch, 7 buttons (all of which I have assigned and use), and feels solid. All joysticks need to be recallibrated fairly regularly to ensure it's accuracy.

[Yilar]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

I picked up a Saitek Cyborg Evo as well, nice joystick, handles well, the Z-axis (twist handle action) still causes problems for me, even after thorough calibration before I launch BF2, what did help me though was the control setup webpage: http://wiki.bf2s.com/tactical-guides/aviator-tactics which was a great help to me.

[AllFoamNoBeer]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

can anyone buy me one... lol, cant afford jacksh!t.........
took me 6 months of saving to get bf2...

well, the 3rd pro looks good...
but if you really wanna push the cash, saitek's X52 and Cybord Evo are cool... dont get the wireless, for obvious reasons..

[Soldat]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

USB, 8 buttons, hat switch, twist handle and a throttle

[Sub_zer0]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

I've got a cyborg evo force Best joystick ever A rumble for the fun of it

[GbeTech]

Re: How to pick a joystick?

I'm using the Cyborg Evo Pro, best stick ever, it's like perfect.
100% convenience, buttons are 100% placed right, 100% easy to get used to... and a great look.
The only downside? (which is not large at all, I don't feel it at all and ALL the other joysticks needs it) You have to use a bit the deadzone feature. Except that, it's perfect. I would give it a 9-9.5/10. Really.

BTW, if you do buy it, let me know, PM me and i'll help you with the drivers, deadzone and stuff. Took me a while (maybe i'm an idiot) to figure out what to do with it. Really.

Just notice I had a thread like this a few weeks ago, indeed everyone recommended me the Logitech, but ultimately I bought the Saitek and very happy with it. I guess Logitech aren't better than Saitek, it's just like a trend to buy Logitech. Logically: You have 2 producers of joysticks, in order to keep the popularity equal they must have the same numbers of costumers.
If 75% of the JS owners have a logitech and only 25% own a Saitek, eventually (theoretically) logitech will get even more percentage and saitek will have less.
So this is the current situation: More Logitech costumers, the more they will get the less saitek costumers will be.


Sorry for my grammer, it was kind of hard to translate it :p